


Welcome to Westerley

by shopfront



Category: Haven (TV), Killjoys (TV)
Genre: Community: smallfandombang, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-08 14:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14107806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/pseuds/shopfront
Summary: "We're not in Maine anymore, Toto."Nathan makes it into the disintegrating barn with Duke, and this time it spits them out together on the other side of the void. In the Quad. (Set post-S3 in Haven, and early-S2 of Killjoys.)





	Welcome to Westerley

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to danceswithgary for the [beautiful accompanying artwork](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14201802) made for this bang that so perfectly celebrates the merging of these two worlds. Make sure you check it out while you're here!

“You’re in love with her, too,” Nathan said, the anger clearing from his eyes.

“Yeah,” Duke admitted. His voice was so quiet it was nearly silent.

Nathan’s jaw tensed. “Then how can you let her go? Look at her!” he cried, and then he shoved Duke towards Audrey and pointed.

Duke turned to look, and Nathan’s heart lifted with hope. But Duke’s eyes had only locked with Audrey’s for the briefest of moments before he started to shake his head. Nathan’s heart immediately crashed back down into his stomach and, reeling from it, he lunged for the gun in Duke’s hand.

“Audrey, stop!” Nathan called as he ran after her. But she was already through the barn door and gone.

Duke just watched, resigned, as Nathan kicked repeatedly at the closed door.

“I thought it was made fairly clear that won’t work on the barn,” Agent Howard said, drawing Nathan’s focus away from the door.

Duke grimaced. ‘Wrong thing to say, buddy,’ he was tempted to interject, but what was the point? Nathan had already turned back around and his eyes were alight with rage. There probably wasn’t anything anyone could say to calm him. Not now that Audrey was gone.

“That was clear,” Nathan said as his his shoulders sagged in defeat - but not for long. Duke frowned.“But what about hurting you?” Nathan continued as he raised his gun.

Duke blanched, and started moving towards him. “Nathan, no!” he yelled as he began to run.

But the shots were already ringing out. He dragged Nathan down to the ground anyway, and as they fell he vaguely registered the sight of Jordan cresting the hill and the sound of yet more shots flying past them.

“Dammit, Nathan,” he snapped as he struggled with him for the gun. Luckily the next of Jordan’s shots also went wide as they wrestled for control. Instead, Duke flinched away from the explosion of earth it made as it connected with the ground next to them.

Nathan didn’t even seem to have noticed that he wasn’t the only one shooting. But his fingers finally went slack around the weapon and then Duke was the one firing. Once. Then twice.

Jordan cried out and fell. It was only then that Duke noticed what Nathan was staring at. The barn, and Agent Howard, were glowing. No. Coming apart at the seams. Bright beams of light lanced out of both of them as they shuddered violently.

“That doesn’t look good,” Duke muttered, still half sprawled across Nathan.

“It’s not stopping,” Nathan said quietly to himself. Then he repeated it more urgently and started to shove at Duke’s weight on top of him. “It’s not stopping. Duke, you have to get her. Go! Save Audrey!”

“Not without you, you crazy son of a bitch,” Duke said back grimly. He hauled them both to their feet and started to stagger towards the barn. It was lit up brighter than a Christmas tree now, the walls practically disintegrating before their eyes. Duke really wanted to hesitate. He really, really did. But Nathan was right, there wasn’t any time.

They hit the door at a run, both calling Audrey’s name. This time it opened - or the barn door simply gave way before them as it broke apart. But there was no time to think about that, so Duke swallowed down his rising sense of doom.

“Audrey,” Nathan started to call immediately. “Audrey, where are you?”

Duke stared at the white walls around them as he skidded to a stop. The walls shook and shuddered, and every few feet the whiteness was breaking apart to reveal wooden boards and unnerving swirls of black space.

“What the hell is this?” he asked Nathan, and then quickly shook his head at himself. “No, never mind. Audrey! Audrey? We really should get out of here, this place is falling apart!”

But nobody came when they called. Instead, voices and images began to play across the walls and ceiling like the barn was a particularly sadistic cinema made just for them.

“These are Audrey’s memories,” Nathan said softly after a moment. His eyes were fixed on images of James and Audrey as they played over and over around them.

Duke ignored him and spun, staring up and down the long white hall as he turned. Then he picked a direction at random and started to jog towards one end. “Maybe she’s further in?”

“No Duke, wait,” Nathan called after him urgently. Then, to Duke’s horror, it quickly became apparent why.The floor and the wall nearest to Duke had broken open to reveal a dark cavern filled with the same swirling blackness. He yelped and staggered as a sucking pressure wrapped around his ankles and tugged.

But, luckily, fingers closed around Duke’s wrist just as he lost the battle and was dragged sideways off his feet.

“Hold on,” Nathan said from beside Duke - or was it above him, now?

“That’s the plan,” Duke said shakily. Then he grunted as the pressure increased and one of his feet slipped past the end of the broken floorboards.

Nathan grimaced as he spoke. “I’ll try and, ow, dammit, pull you over here-“

“Ow?” Duke asked a little hysterically as he searched for purchase against the floor with his free hand. But its eery whiteness was as smooth as silk, and there was no way to get any sort of hold that might counter the force trying to pull him in. “Since _when do you say ow_?”

Nathan chuckled bitterly. “Since Troubles don’t work in the barn,” he explained in an exasperated tone. Then he gritted his teeth and pulled. Hard. “It’s no use,” he continued with a strangely blank expression. “I’m not strong enough. Can you grab hold of me so I can use both hands?”

“You picked a hell of a time to start feeling pain!” Duke half-yelled in reply. But he brought his other hand up and grabbed hold of Nathan’s wrist anyway. Slowly, he began to pull himself up Nathan’s body until he could reach a better place to hang on.

Something that felt like a particularly vicious, biting sort of wind started to lick at his heels as he did so, and the barn groaned and creaked a little louder around them.

“Duke, hurry up!”

“Nathan,” Duke started to say, even as he found a better hold around Nathan’s waist. “If you can’t…. You should let me-“

“No,” Nathan replied, his expression suddenly turning thunderous. Then he added his now free hand to his grip on the doorframe and pulled again. “I’m not losing you, too!”

Inch by inch, straining with effort, Nathan somehow managed to drag them away from the hole in the wall. Duke watched it widen even as it dropped away from him and its grip on him weakened, until suddenly they lurched free. Nathan staggered and Duke hit the floor on his knees, still holding onto Nathan for dear life.

“We have to keep moving,” Nathan said as he gasped for breath.

But Duke was already up. He carefully skirted the hole and then grabbed Nathan by the hand as they started walking further down the hall together.

“I don’t care if it’s weird, just don’t let go,” Duke said when Nathan frowned at him. He looked puzzled but he returned Duke’s grip fiercely. “I get the feeling that neither of us really wants to risk getting sucked into one of those things.”

But Duke already had a sinking feeling even as he said the words. Nathan’s eyes had widened and his gaze was fixed over Duke’s shoulder. Before Duke could turn and look, he felt that same sucking pressure licking at his feet again and then he was falling.

Only this time, there was no sure fingers waiting to wrap around his wrist. They were already held tight in his hand, and Nathan was falling alongside him.

*

They landed with a thump. Duke groaned, sandwiched between Nathan and what felt like rough, rocky ground. “What’s that smell?” he asked, nose wrinkled. “No, wait, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. Just get off me, already.”

Nathan rolled off Duke with a huff, and immediately sat up and looked around. Duke didn’t follow him, content for the moment to lie still and try to catch the breath that had been violently knocked out of him when they fell.

“I think we’re in an alley?”

“Why does that sound like a question?” Duke asked. Then he reluctantly opened one eye to glare at Nathan when he didn’t respond. He took in the sight of Nathan curiously poking the bruises already emerging across his arm in the shape of Duke’s fingers, before he looked past Nathan at their surroundings.

Duke sat up abruptly. “We’re in an alley.”

“That’s what I just said,” Nathan grumbled.

“No, but…,” Duke replied. He trailed off as he scrambled to his feet and turned in a circle, fighting down a retch as he took in the garbage and God only knew what else that it seemed they had narrowly avoided landing in. “It’s definitely an alley, but, well. I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t look like any sort of alley that I’m used to seeing.”

Nathan finally looked up properly with a frown. “Haven doesn’t exactly have a lot of alleys to compare it to,” he started to say cautiously, but he stopped when Duke raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, you’re right. It looks weird.”

“Weird is an understatement,” Duke said. He leaned out to peer around the corner of their alley and stared for a moment. Then he blinked a few times and turned back to Nathan. “I don’t know quite how to say this,” he said. Then he paused and scrubbed at his face with both hands. “But I don’t think- That is, we’re not exactly… we’re not in Maine anymore, Toto.”

“Are we in the barn?” Nathan asked. He pushed past Duke despite Duke’s protests and then he, too, stopped at the corner and stared.

“That is… not Haven,” he said after a long moment of silence.

“No, it is not,” Duke agreed.

“Or the barn. For one thing, these don’t hurt anymore,” he continued, waving his bruised arm in the air.

“Then no, definitely not the barn. Plus there is a distinct lack of white happening. Anywhere.”

Nathan let out a short, high pitched laugh. “What the hell?”

“I have no idea, buddy,” Duke said as he clapped Nathan gently on the shoulder and nudged him further out of the alley. “But we should probably start to look for Audrey while we take it all in.”

Nathan blinked and stared some more at the street before he turned back to Duke. “Audrey. Right.”

“You okay there, Nathan?” Duke asked warily as he scrutinised him closely. “Please don’t tell me you hit your head in that fall. I haven’t the faintest clue where the nearest hospital might be. Or what it might look like.”

Nathan frowned thoughtfully and ran a hand through his hair. “No blood,” he announced, when his hand came out clean.

“Ri-ight,” Duke said, eyeing him warily. “So, Audrey?”

Nathan nodded slowly for a moment before he shoved past Duke to grab a stranger by the arm. “Have you seen a short blonde women come past here?” he asked urgently while they blinked back at him. “About this high?”

Duke stepped forward and yanked Nathan back a step using the hand he was holding out at an approximation of Audrey’s height. “I’m so sorry, please excuse him,” he said smoothly, topping the apology off with his most charming smile. “We’re a little worried about a friend of ours. I don’t suppose you’ve seen anyone matching that description?”

The other man just looked them up and down. His brow furrowed slightly as he took in their clothing. He lingered particularly on Duke’s frayed jeans and layered shirts before he pulled his arm free from Nathan’s grip and backed away. “Damn jakk addicts,” he muttered as he hurried off.

Duke sighed, and then yelped indignantly when Nathan turned around and shoved him.

“What the hell, Duke?”

“What the hell, me? What the hell, you! I thought they trained cops on how to actually get answers out of someone instead of just how to piss off a crowd of dirty strangers from Not-Maine!”

Nathan made a frustrated noise and moved to shove him again, but this time Duke side-stepped him neatly. He kept an eye on the milling crowd that was walking past them as he moved, muttering more apologies and dodging people as he went. Dragged along behind one of them was a thing that somehow looked both like and unlike a shopping cart full of junk, and he paused a moment to stare after them curiously. As it moved further away, his eyes shifted up and-

“You’re right, they did train me. So maybe if you let me do my job, I could-“

“Hold that thought,” Duke said. He patted Nathan on the chest and then started to weave slowly through the crowd, leaving Nathan alone to gape after him. There was a stranger standing on the corner of another alley opposite the one they’d landed in, and he was staring at them.

“Where are you going?” Nathan asked a moment later from behind Duke. He tried to grapple with Duke and make him stop, but Duke just brushed him off and kept powering forward. He half-turned his head as he walked so Nathan could hear him.

“There’s a guy,” he started to say. But even as he spoke, the man in question pulled a yellow hood over his head and slipped away. “Dammit! Come on!”

He dove properly into the crowd this time, no longer minding his feet or his elbows. Distractedly, he registered the volume of Nathan’s complaints and questions rising behind him. But there was no time to stop and explain, and at least Duke could tell that Nathan was keeping up with him by listening for his protests.

Yet, no matter how many elbows he threw, the crowd was still thick enough to slow him down. By the time they reached the corner the man was long gone. To make matters worse, the alley he’d turned down quickly revealed itself as branching in three different directions.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Duke muttered to himself as he hesitated by the first branch.

“Seriously?” Nathan asked. When Duke turned back around, he found that Nathan had spread his hands wide with his palms turned towards the sky and was giving Duke a filthy look.

“I’m telling you there was a guy over here. He was dressed kinda funny, and he was watching us real close.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone here is dressed ‘kinda funny’,” Nathan said dryly with a glance back at the street.

“No, this one was different. He was barely wearing anything. Looked more like he belonged in a weird kind of strip club rather than out on the street.”

Duke kept peering down the alley as he spoke, and when he turned back Nathan was staring at him oddly.

“What?”

“The guy was dressed kind of skimpy so you, what, decided you wanted to get his number or something?”

Duke sighed heavily and rolled his eyes to the sky as he muttered obscenities under his breath.

“No, really Duke. If the barn spat us out here then Audrey must be here somewhere, too. But if you’re too busy eyeing up the locals, I can search for her on my own.”

“The man was staring at us, Nathan,” Duke snapped. He stepped forward, jaw clenched, but aborted the move before they could meet head to head. “Not in the ‘oh, hey, what are those weirdos doing on the street corner’ kind of way like everybody else was, either. I’m used to trying not to attract attention, remember? I know suspicious staring when I see it.”

Nathan snorted, and Duke threw up his hands. Spinning on his heel, he picked one of the three alleyways before them at random and started walking.

“We have no idea where we are or where to find her. Follow me or don’t, Nathan, but I’ll be damned if I don’t chase down the closest thing we’ve got to a lead so far,” he called over his shoulder without slowing down.

He didn’t hear footsteps start up behind him, but a few turns of the alley later he felt a person catch up.

“Finally,” he muttered.

But when he looked back, it wasn’t Nathan. It was the man in the yellow robes.

“I mean you no harm,” the man said. He raised his hands as Duke came to a screeching halt and squared off with him.

Duke looked him up and down and shifted slightly on the balls of his feet as he considered the statement. “You got a name?” he asked eventually, chin raised.

The man raised his eyebrows and his face went blank for a moment. “Alvis Akari,” he finally replied slowly.

“Nice to meet you, Alvis,” Duke said, cocking his head to the side as he searched for crack in the mask that was the other man’s expression. “Call me Duke.”

If it was possible, the man’s eyebrows raised even higher. “You aren’t from around here,” he said in wonder. An expression flitted across his face faster than Duke could interpret before it quickly smoothed into a smile.

“That’s right,” Duke said, brows furrowed. “Is it that obvious?”

Alvis chuckled. “You must be a recent arrival,” he continued placidly as he ignored Duke’s question.

Duke quirked one shoulder and relaxed slightly. “Seriously, how could you tell? We’re dressed different, but it’s not that different.”

“You were pleased to meet me,” Alvis said after a loaded beat of silence. His lips quirked as he watched Duke start to frown. But before he could ask anymore questions, Duke spotted Nathan over Alvis’ shoulder. Nathan was hurrying down the alley, and his furious expression flickered as he took in the sight of the two of them.

“Nathan!” Duke called with a smirk, and waved him over. “Come meet Alvis. Alvis, this is my very stubborn friend, Nathan.”

Alvis nodded at Nathan and stepped back just far enough that he had both of them in his line of sight. Then he continued speaking to Duke as if they hadn’t been interrupted, though Duke noticed he kept half an eye on Nathan the entire time. “I must confess, I’m a little curious. How did you get past the wall?”

Nathan and Duke both stared at him in confusion, and after a moment Alvis started to frown as well.

“What wall?” Nathan asked.

Alvis blinked at him, and then looked between him and Duke. He seemed struck speechless by the question. “Perhaps we’d best relocate this conversation,” he said eventually. He cast a wary glance at the empty alley around them as he spoke

Duke shrugged and gave Nathan his best just go with it expression. Nathan opened his mouth, still looking angry. But to Duke’s relief he closed it again just as quickly.

“Whatever you say, dude. Nice outfit, by the way,” Duke said, eyeing Alvis’ robes. Then he raised his eyebrows at Nathan, doing his best to convey, ‘see, I told you,’ with the look. Nathan just stared back like Duke was a very particular kind of crazy he didn’t want to try and understand, until Duke gave up and turned away with a huff.

“Where are you taking us?” Nathan asked Alvis, instead.

Alvis just pulled his hood back over his head with a mysterious smile. “Somewhere with friends, and where we won’t be overheard if we don’t wish to be,” was all he said as he started to lead the way out of the alley.

*

“You alright there, sugar?”

Alvis smiled grimly, and tilted his head towards Nathan and Duke. “Pree. These two are from out of town and are looking for a friend of theirs,” he started to say, but Nathan shouldered past Alvis before he could get any further. Duke just sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose, not bothering to try and stop him.

“Her name’s Audrey Parker. She’s about this tall, blonde hair, have you seen her?”

Pree raised an eyebrow from behind the bar. “Can’t say that I have.”

Nathan slammed his hands onto the bar top and leaned forward. “Are you sure?” he ground out.

“It’s a big moon, sweetcheeks. What makes you think I know everybody on it?”

Duke reached out and poked Nathan in the back hard enough to rock him against the bar and catch his attention. “Remind me to buy you ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ next Christmas, will ya?” Then he blinked, and stared at the bartender. “Wait, moon?” he asked. Distractedly, he flapped a hand at Nathan to shut up when he spluttered indignantly.

While they bickered, Alvis approached the bar beside them. “Could you bring us a round in the corner, Pree?” he asked. He also ignored Duke’s repeated questions about what Pree meant by ‘moon’ while Pree continued to eye them all skeptically. “Please?” Alvis asked again, and Pree finally capitulated with a sigh and pursed lips.

“Well, alright. If that’s what you want,” he said, his voice lilting up at the end as he reached for bottles and glasses. “You’re lucky it’s quiet today.”

Alvis just smirked at him. Then he caught Duke’s eye and motioned sharply towards an empty corner with his head. “Why don’t you two grab a table?”

With a sigh of his own, Duke nudged a still grumbling Nathan and started to do just that.

“If Parker’s not here, we need to leave. Have a look around this town - city, whatever - and then keep going until we find her,” Nathan said to Duke instead of following. He grabbed Duke by the elbow and started to walk towards the door instead before Duke could protest.

“Oh no, sweetie,” Pree said from behind them, his tone amused. “You’re stuck here like rats in a maze, just the same as the rest of us.”

“What do you mean, stuck?” Duke asked slowly as he dug his heels in and stopped dead in his tracks. He refused to budge even when Nathan tugged on his elbow again.

“You’re really not from around here, huh,” Pree mused aloud, slinging a bar rag over his shoulder as he examined them speculatively.

“That’s what you all keep telling us,” Duke replied as he finally shook Nathan off. “Now, I asked you a question. What exactly do you mean by ‘stuck’ and really seriously what did you mean by ‘moon’? Hmm?”

Alvis shook his head and exchanged an amused look with Pree. “There’s a wall around Old Town,” he said.

“What’s Old Town? Wait, you called your town Old Town, seriously?”

“What kind of wall?” Nathan asked.

“The kind you can’t get past without dying, sugar,” Pree said, then patted the top of his bar fondly. “So why don’t you pull up a stool here before you go and get your pretty self killed, hmm?”

Neither of them moved, just exchanged confused glances. “That still doesn’t answer my other question,” Duke pointed out.

“You’re on Westerley,” Pree said as if it was obvious while he started to pour their drinks.

“Part of the Quad?” Alvis continued when neither of them looked anymore enlightened. “Tell me you know you’re in The J, at least?”

“None of that means anything to us,” Nathan said. His voice was cautious for the first time, his eyes flitting from Duke to the bar and back as he spoke.

“Total gobbledegook,” Duke agreed when Pree and Alvis turned their surprised glances on him.

Pree silently pushed a glass towards Alvis, but Alvis ignored it. “Did you both hit your heads?” he asked. “Maybe we should call Pawter?” he continued to Pree in an undertone.

“I did wonder that,” Duke said thoughtfully. Then he blinked and elaborated, “the head hitting thing, that is. What’s a Pawter?”

“Oh boy,” Pree said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m officially out, have fun.”

Before Pree could actually walk off, a voice interrupted from the doorway. “Hey, a little help? I’ve got a damsel in distress here.”

Pree just rolled his eyes. “Of course you do,” was all he said in reply, still turning away.

Duke quirked an eyebrow at Pree’s tone, and turned toward the door. Then he froze. “Audrey?”

Nathan stiffened beside him. Before Duke could muster another sentence, he had spun on the spot and was over to the door like a shot. “Parker,” he breathed reverently as he tugged her away from the stranger.

“Nathan,” she answered. She wobbled slightly as she reached for him, apparently mostly being held up by the other man’s arm around her waist.

“You know him?” the man asked as he warily released her into Nathan’s arms. Then he shrugged and grinned. “Well, at least that’s one less thing for me to worry about today.”

Duke let the man brush past him as he walked towards the bar, barely heeding him as he rushed to Audrey’s side as well. “Audrey, are you-“ But before he could finish his question, she slumped against Nathan completely. With an alarmed sound Nathan sunk to the floor along with her, cradling her in his arms.

“You came after me,” she said with a smile, reaching up to touch Nathan’s face. Then her gazed moved past him, and her smile grew. “You both did.”

“Of course we did, Parker,” Nathan said, voice choked. He pulled her tighter into his arms and pressed her face into his neck, resting his chin on her head as he closed his eyes. “We always will.”

“I don’t know what happened,” she continued slowly, still staring at Duke. “Or where we are. I should be mad at both of you for following me, but I’m just glad I’m not alone.”

Duke took a moment to breathe deep as he watched them, letting layers of tension he hadn’t even realised he was carrying seep from his shoulders. Faintly he registered Alvis greet the stranger by name, D’avin, and offer him one of Duke and Nathan’s drinks.

But mostly he only had eyes for Audrey and Nathan. She looked exactly the same as when she’d walked into the barn. Though marginally less rumpled than Duke and Nathan had already become, as if she’d simply stepped in one set of doors and out of another. She definitely smelt better, too.

“You might want to move this party upstairs,” Pree said, breaking the moment. His voice was low and he was eyeing off the rest of his patrons. None of them were paying any attention to the little group by the bar, but Alvis nodded in agreement anyway. D’avin stepped forward to help Nathan get Audrey to her feet, but Duke cut in front of him.

“Normally there’s a doctor on hand, here,” D’avin said to Nathan and Duke as they looped Audrey’s arms around themselves. “But she’s been a bit busy lately. It might take her a little while to get away.”

“Can we take Audrey to her, instead?” Nathan asked, worry threaded through his voice.

“I’m fine, Nathan,” Audrey said. Duke felt her squeeze his shoulder weakly, hugging them closer. She couldn’t hold her grip long, but her smile was bright. “D’avin took good care of me after he found me. I can wait for a check-up.” Nathan looked like he still wanted to protest, but Duke and Audrey both gave him a look and he subsided. Instead, they all headed up a small flight of stairs after D’avin with a very amused Alvis in tow carrying a tray of drinks.

*

It took a few drinks (mostly for Duke), a lot of reassuring hand-holding (mostly for Nathan), and more than one wry comment from Alvis that Duke was beginning to have a real appreciation for, before they got to the heart of what was happening. But none of that was important right now, because-

“This isn’t a planet,” Duke said, for the fifth time in a flat tone.

“I am seriously getting sick of this whole looped recording thing you’ve got going on,” D’avin replied.

“And as far as you know we’re not on, or near, Earth,” Duke continued as if D’avin hadn’t interrupted. He watched in a fatalistic sort of way as Nathan stroked Audrey’s hair back off her face for the thousandth time instead of paying any proper attention to what the others were saying. Though he did at least seem torn between looking grim and concerned at Duke, and lovesick whenever he turned back to her.

“It must have been the barn,” Audrey murmured without opening her eyes. Nathan tried to soothe her and encourage her to nap some more but she pushed his hand away. Finally, she opened her eyes, though she winced and groaned at the light.

Alvis stirred silently from his seat beside Duke and tugged the gauzy curtains closed. It dimmed the room a little and Audrey murmured a quiet thanks.

“How could the barn possibly do something like this?” Nathan asked as he hovered over her.

Audrey pushed herself upright and tried to find a comfortable spot against the decidedly rickety looking headboard. “How does the barn do anything? We’ve seen plenty of far out things in Haven,” she pointed out wryly once she was settled. “Is this really anymore strange?”

“I think crossing into a whole other galaxy, or wherever the hell this is, definitely counts as stranger. Haven might have people with supernatural powers, but they all otherwise live very much in the real world,” Duke huffed as he poured himself more alcohol.

“What exactly do you mean by supernatural powers?” D’avin asked, eyes fixed on the glass he held cradled in his hands.

“All sorts of things, really,” Audrey said. “I’ve seen people control the weather, move objects with their mind, change things by drawing them. Nathan is impervious to physical sensation so he can’t feel pain or touch. Stuff like that.”

Duke noticed that D’avin’s focus softened and eased away from his drink as Audrey spoke. But at the mention of Nathan’s Trouble, he went still again and glanced up sharply.

“Why? You got anything like that here?” Audrey continued, not yet picking up on whatever was going on with D’avin.

“Anyone ever heal?” D’avin asked instead of answering.

“What, like healing other people? Yeah, we’ve seen that. Wasn’t pretty,” Nathan replied. His eyes were still fixed on Audrey, so he also didn’t notice D’avin straightening in his seat. But Duke did.

Sitting forward himself, Duke watched D’avin carefully. But it was Alvis who broke in next. “What about healing themselves?”

“Spontaneously? Not that I’ve ever heard of,” Audrey said. “You have to understand, Duke called them superpowers but they aren’t exactly super. They all come with a downside. I’d hate to think what the flip side of that sort of Trouble might be.”

Nathan nodded, finally looking up. He pulled his sleeve down and exposed the wrist Duke had used for leverage back in the barn in all its brightly bruised glory. “The flipside for me is that while I might not feel it, I still get hurt,” he explained, holding his arm out so both Alvis and D’avin could see the marks. “Has its advantages and its disadvantages.”

Audrey exclaimed softly with dismay upon seeing Nathan’s injuries. But like a breath of air moving through the room, Duke felt the tension dissipate as abruptly as it had arrived.

Confused, he turned to Alvis. “What the hell was that?” he asked quietly.

Alvis dipped his head in a considering manner before answering. “You say you’ve had your troubles. Well, you might say we’ve had a few of our own lately,” came the opaque reply.

“With people that heal themselves?” Duke asked. Alvis simply dipped his head again in ambiguous reply, but it was enough to rock Duke back in his seat. “Huh.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, either,” D’avin said, watching them. Duke turned to him with raised eyebrows, questioning, but D’avin shook his head. “No, not me. Not any of us. Luckily.”

“Downsides,” Nathan chimed in knowingly from across the room.

“Something like that. Listen, I’ve got to ask. How in the holy hell do you think a _barn_ sent you to a different part of the galaxy?” D’avin asked.

“It wasn’t just a barn,” Audrey started to explain and then floundered a little. “Though I don’t think we have a much clearer idea of what it was now than we did before we went inside it. And that’s assuming it’s even sent us somewhere in the same galaxy, to begin with…. That this isn’t just a dream, or some weird kind of jumbled memory, or even an hallucination.”

Alvis raised his eyebrows. “Surely this is particularly vivid for a group hallucination?”

Duke shrugged. “We’ve seen stranger,” he said, and turned back to Audrey. “Does it really matter at this point? We’re God knows where, and we got here God only knows how. I don’t think understanding the finer points of how the barn worked is going to help us if we can’t, y’know, find another barn. Or something like it.”

“Whatever that means,” Nathan said bitterly.

“Let’s walk it through,” Audrey said, sitting forward eagerly. “We know the barn held my memories and rewrote my personality. Assumedly it kept me young, maybe the same way it healed James….“ She stumbled to a halt, all eagerness melting away. Stricken, she turned to Nathan. “James,” she breathed.

Nathan just stared back with wide, sorrowful eyes, lost for words.

“Who’s James?” D’avin asked.

Duke ground the heels of his palms into his eyes for moment, and sighed. “Alright, fine,” he said. Then he stood abruptly and grabbed his drink and his chair, dragging both to the other end of the small room they were all camped out in. “Leave them be for a moment and in exchange for some privacy, I’ll tell you a very long, very weird story.”

By the time Duke was done talking, Alvis was still serenely thoughtful but D’avin just looked confused.

“I think this might be a bit above my pay grade,” he said to Duke, as he exchanged loaded glances with Alvis. “Perhaps it’s time I call Dutch and the others? Actually, you know what, yeah. Just give me a second.”

“They might already be with Pawter,” Alvis called after him as he wandered off, fiddling with a device. “Make them bring her here if they are. I think she’s ignoring our messages!”

*

They waited for longer than Duke had hoped they would need to. But eventually there was a quick knock and the door creaked open once more. D’avin made a beeline for the same chair as he entered the room, and two new people followed him in. Both were shorter but somehow no less imposing than D’avin as they looked Nathan, Audrey, and Duke over.

“Howdy,” Duke said, cocking his hand up in a jaunty wave, and the other man grinned at him.

“Hey! My name’s Johnny, and this is Dutch.”

Duke quirked an eyebrow. “Dutch…ess?”

“Just Dutch,” she replied as she smirked and brushed past him without shaking his outstretched hand. “Sorry we’re late.”

“Shame, seeing as I’m a Duke and all.”

“Duke,” Audrey said warningly, but Duke just gave her his best innocent look.

“As I was saying,” Dutch said, after she’d narrowed her eyes at Duke for a moment. “We were in a bit of a tight spot so it took us longer than we thought when Pree called, but-“

“Pawter shouldn’t be too far behind us,” Johnny said to Alvis, finishing Dutch’s sentence.

As if on cue, a red-headed woman burst into the room behind them. “Right,” she said, hands on her hips. “Where’s the emergency? Who’s bleeding? This had better be good, or we’ll be having words about you pulling me away from the hospital.”

“Thought you were always happy to come help people in need,” Dutch said as she stepped neatly out of Pawter’s path and dropped herself into the chair next to D’avin’s after spinning it around. He knocked his shoulder companionably against hers as she folded her arms along the top of the chair-back, and she knocked back against him with a smile. Johnny turned away with a roll of his eyes to smile apologetically at Pawter.

“Only if they’re more in need than all of the other people,” Pawter was saying as she glanced around the room. She quickly zeroed in on the bed where Audrey and Nathan were still curled up. “Which requires a damn lot of needing. What seems to be the problem?”

“Well, this gentleman here is just bruised. But he also doesn’t feel pain so you should probably take a closer look at him to be sure,” D’avin said with a shit-eating grin at the intensely curious look that immediately crossed Pawter’s face. “And this lovely lady is suffering from mystery fatigue after going into a structure that was apparently built to wipe her memory but instead seems to have intergalactically beamed her here instead. Along with her buddies. Which might explain the fatigue, but what do I know? I’m not the doctor.”

Pawter stared at him. “Beamed?” she asked after a moment, bewildered.

“This one seems fine, at least,” Dutch said as she rounded out the assessment lazily with a thumb jerked in Duke’s direction. “Nothing bad enough that it could stop his abysmal flirting, at any rate.”

Duke held a hand to his heart. “That hurt me. Truly.” He was grinning as he said it, but the unimpressed look on Pawter’s face sobered him up quickly. “It’s, ah, been a long day,” he said with a sheepish shrug.

“Right, whatever. You three need to come with me down to the medical rooms where I can assess you properly,” Pawter said as she began to usher them towards the door with a flap of her hand. Then she pointed a finger sternly in Alvis’ direction. “And you, you found them? So it’s your fault I’m here instead of with the rest of my patients. You’d better have a drink - a nice one! - waiting for me downstairs when I’m done.”

Nathan carefully guided Audrey to her feet while Pawter stared Alvis down. When Audrey wavered on her feet just like before, he quickly moved to lift her. But Duke stood and hurried to stop him.

“Now that we’ve got you so close to recognisable medical care, maybe you should let the guy who could actually feel if he was injured do the heavy lifting. Hmm?” Duke asked as he placed a hand on Nathan’s arm to still him. “Better safe than sorry?”

Then he waited for Audrey to nod her permission before he swung her into his arms. Turning to Pawter once Audrey was settled in his arms, he waited for her to lead the way.

*

“Alright, I think you’ll be good to go, now,” Pawter said as she withdrew the needle from Audrey’s arm. “It just looks like standard exhaustion, even if it was brought on by processes you can’t explain in that barn thing you keep talking about. Now, Nathan, if you’ll just open your shirt for me for a moment. I want to do a visual assessment for abdominal injuries.”

“Wouldn’t that device you used before have picked up any issues?” Audrey asked.

“Usually, yes,” Pawter said as she motioned at Nathan to hurry it along. “But given how little I know about this phenomena you call the Troubles, I can’t predict whether it might interfere with the readings. I don’t think something that decreases physical sensation could also deflect a scan from this sort of technology. But I’d rather double check now rather than have to leave my patients again because he’s collapsed or something.”

Nathan finished unbuttoning his shirt while they spoke, and Pawter immediately began pressing her hands along his ribs.

“No, that’s okay,” she said with a laugh in her voice as he started to shrug his shirt the rest of the way off while looking very put-upon. “I think I can work around it if you don’t want to strip in front of your friends.”

As she moved across his torso with one hand, she absentmindedly lifted the chain around his neck with the other. It held Lucy’s ring, which flashed and twinkled in the beams of the medical lamps as it moved.

“Normally I’d ask if… you… felt anything…,” Pawter said. Then she stuttered to a complete stop, staring as she turned the ring over in her fingers.

“Something wrong?” Nathan asked.

“This ring,” she said urgently as she continued to turn it over so she could examine it closely. “Where did you get it?”

Nathan and Audrey frowned at each other. “From me,” Audrey said. “Kind of. We think. It’s… a long story. Why, is it important somehow?”

“What does a ring have to do with a physical?” Duke asked, half laughing as he slouched by the door.

“This isn’t just any ring,” Pawter insisted as she stared at them all with wide eyes. “It’s a family heirloom. See here, where there’s a very finely engraved pattern in the metal around where the stones are set? There should be a small symbol etched underneath- yes, see? That there is the symbol of one of the Nine families.”

“What’s a Nine family?” Audrey asked, tone skeptical even as she crowded in to look at the details while Pawter pointed each of them out.

“They’re basically in charge of the Quad. I have no idea how or why you’d even have this if you’re not from around here,” Pawter said. Then she blinked as Audrey wordlessly held up her hand. The one on which rested Audrey’s own copy of the ring. “That’s impossible,” she breathed, reaching out to touch it.

Duke pushed off the wall and walked over to join them but it still just looked like a standard ring to him. Kind of small, and a little bit forgettable. Nothing mystical or significant about it.

“Are you trying to say that anybody who has one of these rings is a member of one of these Nine families?” Audrey asked, her eyes wide.

“Possibly,” Pawter said as she dropped Audrey’s hand again. “In theory, that should be the only way you could have come to possess one. But you two aren’t related, are you? Siblings or cousins, maybe?”

For a moment she looked just a touch scandalised at the thought, but it melted quickly into mischief at their expressions. Duke struggled not to laugh as Nathan and Audrey both rushed to dissuade her of the idea, rapidly speaking over each other.

“They’re definitely not related,” Duke said firmly over the noise. Then he blinked and tilted his head to one side. “…they hope.”

Audrey made a disgusted noise and shoved at Duke. He promptly clapped a hand to his arm like he’d been wounded and mock-staggered out of reach while she laughed.

“Okay, if you’re not related but you both have rings then what I know probably doesn’t apply. These aren’t the sorts of jewellery pieces a Nine would just give away willy-nilly,” Pawter said, once they’d stopped.

“Well. I mean, we’re pretty sure a past version of me gave it to Nathan’s father. So, in theory, I could potentially be the source of both of them. Does that change anything?”

Pawter blinked at them for a moment before understanding dawned. “Past you. Are you telling me that the memory thing D’avin mentioned was serious? You know, if I had more time I would kill to get a proper scan of your brain.”

Audrey stared at her for a moment, then widened her eyes and smiled awkwardly when Pawter didn’t elaborate. “Right, sure, but the rings?”

“Yeah, um. I don’t know much about them off the top of my head except that I recognise them. They’re pretty distinctive because most important objects belonging to the Nine are big and ostentatious, but these were small specifically because of their importance. Supposedly to make them a less tempting target to steal,” she said, then trailed off thoughtfully. Before Audrey could prompt her again, however, she brightened. “You know, there might be something in my personal files!”

She turned away from them and started rummaging in a drawer.

“A lot of this stuff got cleared out by other people after the wall first went up,” she said as she searched. “But I think I remember which things were left behind. I have a few hidden spots in here where I stash small belongings. There’s no point hiding the good drugs because if I’m not here someone who really wants them will probably figure out a way to get them. But the ones looking for drugs will usually ignore anything else, and the ones looking for anything else usually don’t bother looking where they assume I just stash drugs so- a-ha!”

When she re-emerged from having most of her arm buried in the back of a cabinet, she was holding a small object made of what looked like glass and metal fused together. Audrey, Nathan, and Duke all looked at it and then at each other blankly.

“It’s an archive of some of my personal files,” Pawter explained. “You’ve never seen a chip before?”

“Like a computer chip?” Duke asked. “Not one like that, no.”

“Huh,” Pawter said, tapping the chip against her chin as she looked back at them curiously. “Maybe you really did get beamed here from another galaxy. Anyway! I’ve got a lot of random stuff on here. Remnants of a past life of my own, you might say. It’s going to take me a little while to sort through it, so why don’t you go check on that drink Alvis owes me and I’ll come find you in the bar when I’m done?”

Reluctantly, the three of them left her to it and headed downstairs as directed. When they got there, they found the others in a raucous drinking competition with Pree and a few strangers. But most of them peeled off from the fun once they spotted Nathan, Audrey, and Duke on the stairs.

“All patched up?” Johnny asked in a friendly manner as they settled around a table.

“Apparently,” Nathan said, then turned to Audrey.

She took his lead without skipping a beat. “And we don’t want to be rude because we’re really grateful for everything you’ve done for us already. But from what we heard up there,” she said as she encompassed the medical rooms and the other room they had waited in in a single sweep of her hand. “Well, we might be imposing on you a while longer. At least until Pawter comes back down. So, I was hoping maybe you could answer a few more of our questions?”

*

“What you’re telling me is that you guys are basically cops,” Nathan said later. He also looked enthusiastic about something other than Audrey for the first time all day.

“Cops?” Dutch asked, frowning.

“Law enforcement,” Duke explained. “The righteous authorities. People who maintain order and put a dampener on everybody else’s fun.”

Johnny sniggered into his drink. “I take it you’re not a ‘cop’, then?”

Duke dropped his mouth open in exaggerated dismay. “I’m offended you could even ask that question! Do I look or sound like the sort of person interested in righteous rule enforcement just for the sake of it?”

Audrey chuckled beside him. “Somehow, I don’t think you’re cops, either,” she said. She considered each of their new friends in turn as they shrugged or pulled exaggerated expressions at the idea. “Maybe… mercenaries?”

“Now that’s term I recognise, and it’s probably more accurate,” Dutch said. She raised a glass in salute to Audrey from where she was sprawled against D’avin and Johnny. The others nodded around her and Nathan deflated. “We’re reclamation agents, or Killjoys. You might also call us bounty hunters.”

“Relax,” Duke said to Nathan as he reached around Audrey to punch Nathan lightly on the arm. Nathan saw him coming at the last minute and glared on principle, but predictably didn’t bother to pull away. “Some of us are used to being outnumbered. It’s not so bad. You might even have a little fun for once.”

Audrey just huffed at the both of them and nestled herself more firmly between them. She blocked Duke’s avenue of attack by leaning into him, but kept a firm hold on Nathan’s hand.

Duke stared down at her for a long moment, and then reached pointedly for his drink. As he did, he noticed Johnny had been watching them speculatively.

“I found it,” Pawter crowed above them.They all looked up as she bounded down the stairs with a whoop. “I was right, the rings used to belong to Land Lahani. Before the Lahani Lady of the Land was disgraced and control passed to a distant cousin with no children. It was all a bit before my time, to be honest. But as far as I can find or remember the previous Lady is still living on Qresh, albeit it in reduced circumstances. So she can probably answer some of your questions if you can figure out a way to get in touch with her.”

Dutch sat up, looking intrigued. “Land Lahani? We’ve had dealings with them before, sort of.”

“The last living heir?” Pawter asked, and nodded knowingly when Dutch, D’avin, and Johnny all grimaced. “I remember hearing some rumours about that. You three caused quite the scandal over that warrant.”

“Wait, so the reason a baby ended up as the last living member of the Lahani family alive was because-“

“The previous Lady has no right to reclaim the Lahani holdings and the cousin who took over was already verging on elderly, yes. Must have taken a heck of a lot of reproductive tech to ensure a healthy pregnancy, even using the Leithian vessels,” Pawter said, nodding until she noticed half of the table looking deeply confused. Again. “It doesn’t matter,” she continued, taking a seat and putting a device down on the table. “The important thing is that there’s still someone alive who can tell you about the rings.”

D’avin leaned back in his chair with a snort. “Great, so all they have to do is get through the Wall to speak to her? Good luck with that.”

“That’s not even half the trouble you’re going to face in reaching her,” Pawter continued after arching an eyebrow at him. “The ex-Lady Lahani had enough influence and personal wealth to be allowed to remain on Qresh, but the amount of land she was allowed to retain for her own use was minuscule and everyone is strictly discouraged from having contact with her. It was part of the bargain she struck to avoid a full exile from the Quad.”

“Wow,” Johnny said. “What the heck did she do?”

“No one knows, or at least nobody I know was ever willing to tell if they did.”

“Do you think she’ll talk to you?” Alvis asked Pawter.

Pawter hesitated. “I’m needed here, I really shouldn’t-“

“You are needed here,” Alvis said calmly. “But that doesn’t stop you from being needed elsewhere.”

“I have been thinking I need to do something, get more involved back on Qresh if I can….”

“Okay then, that’s settled,” D’avin said, interrupting as he clapped his hands together. “So we just still need to get past the impenetrable wall, slip through the clutches of the guy who’s in charge and hates us, and find an excuse to get landing permission for Qresh. All so we can sneak a visit with a Qreshi social outcast without making it obvious who we’re really there to see.”

“Exactly. Piece of cake,” Dutch said.

“You and I have very different definitions of cake,” Johnny said. He shook his head at Alvis when Alvis chuckled.

“Leave it with me,” was all Alvis said in reply as he slid smoothly to his feet. “I think we’ve racked up at least a few favours this week that I can call on.”

“Let me come with you, just to be safe,” Dutch said in a serious tone. She stood and caught both Alvis’ gaze and his wrist, holding it hostage until he agreed. Then they were across the room and out the door before anyone else could protest or offer to go with them and help.

*

Duke had just started to wonder if they’d have to stay the night in the bar when Dutch finally contacted Johnny and D’avin. Not to mention mull over the question of how they’d even pay for a room, if Pree asked them to cough up cash.

“I have a warrant for outside the Wall,” she announced with pleasure when they met her a few streets away from it as requested.

It was dark and it had finally started to get quiet as the evening settled in. Or perhaps it was simply their proximity to the Wall that was driving most of the people away, or how it was getting bitterly cold as a breeze picked up. Either way, the streets were empty of the crowds which had still looked just different enough to be disconcerting during the walk over. Perhaps even more-so now that Duke knew they really weren’t anywhere near home.

“How?” Johnny asked, grabbing for the display when she held it up. “All communications out of Old Town were blocked. Bellus couldn’t-“

“Alvis made a friend who has found a way to slip a very weak signal through the net for very short periods of time,” Dutch said smugly.

“I didn’t have much use for it until now,” Alvis confirmed. “But Jelco won’t interfere with a warrant by holding you, not if he’s smart.”

“You might not want to count on that,” Pawter said. She shivered as she blew hard into her hands and rubbed them together to warm them. But Dutch ignored her and sauntered towards the glowing barrier with her warrant held high in the air.

“We owe you a lot more than thanks,” Audrey told Dutch seriously after they’d finally argued their way through the barrier. “It sounds like you’ve gone to a lot of effort to help three people you’ve barely even just met, and we all really appreciate it.”

“Pshaw, don’t mention it-,“ Johnny started to say, but Dutch was already speaking over him.

“We needed to find a way out of Old Town, anyway,” she said, though she did give Audrey a brief smile.

“So, actually don’t mention it,” Johnny continued with a wry shrug. But his expression was warm as he gestured them up into the waiting ship after Dutch.

“Holy shit,” Duke said as they boarded. “Just… holy shit.”

“Don’t touch anything,” Audrey said, turning in a circle to take it all in as she walked up the ramp after him. “This is, wow, this is like a proper space ship.”

“You may find atmospheric re-entry uncomfortable if you do not wish to touch anything,” a female voice chimed out around them.

Audrey, Nathan, and Duke all blinked at each other. “Was that… an intercom or something?” Nathan asked dubiously.

Johnny just grinned widely at them. “Nope, that’s my girl. Lucy,” he said. Then he patted a wall fondly. “She’s right though, it sounded like you’re not used to space flight back home so you might want to let me show where to strap in before we leave Westerley.”

“The ship talks?” Audrey asked faintly as they slowly trailed after him. “The ship talks.”

“She does a lot more than that,” Johnny just said with pride as he showed them where they could buckle in.

By the time they disembarked on Qresh, Nathan was looking a little green and all of them were happy to feel land beneath their feet. “Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the worth of a good ship more than these two do,” Duke said apologetically to a disgruntled Johnny. “But that was a distinctly odd sensation.”

“Lucy’s right, atmospheric re-entry isn’t for everyone,” Dutch just said cheerily as she knocked on the door to the nearest small mansion. When the door opened, it revealed an older man who looked at them all and smiled.

“Illenore from Land Simms,” he said without missing a beat. Then he stepped back and held the door open for them. “It is an honour.”

Pawter stared back at him in stunned silence. Then she quickly recovered and dipped her head in acknowledgement before she walked past Dutch and through the door. When she reached the threshold she paused and glared back at them. “Hurry up,” she hissed, before she continued on.

The others started slightly, and then scrambled to follow her all at once.

“My lady is in the greenhouse,” the man said as he lead the way. It took them awhile to wind their way through the house, and everyone but Pawter looked around the curiously as they walked. Pawter, in turn, seemed surprised at the speed with which they located the ex-Lady Lahani. But she didn’t falter as they were announced. Nor did she blink at the emphasis placed on her own name in the announcement

The woman in question was bent over a tray of flowers, her hair tumbling loosely out of its bun. Apparently that meant it was getting in the way, judging from the smears of dirt across her forehead. But she was smiling, and her smile grew wider still as she turned to greet them.

“Please, call me Charlotte. It has been some time since I’ve had cause to welcome one of the Nine in my home and I’m afraid I’m no longer practised at all of the usual ceremonies,” she said as she tugged off her gardening gloves and brushed her hair back a little more firmly. Then she glanced past Pawter, and her smile dropped off her face as if it had never been there.

“Mara?” she asked softly, her eyes fixed on Audrey.

The others all glanced between the two of them, and Audrey took a hesitant step forward. “I’m sorry. I think you might have the wrong person? My name’s Audrey,” she said. Her tone was friendly but professional, and it immediately took Duke back to every Trouble encounter he’d seen her navigate.

“But how?” Charlotte was still murmuring, not seeming to register Audrey’s words. “It shouldn’t be possible. The Controller would have contacted me-”

“What’s a Controller?” Audrey asked. “Do you- do you recognise me?”

But Charlotte paid her no heed as she drew an unresisting but confused Audrey into her arms. “Mara,” she sighed happily as Audrey twisted to throw a bewildered glance over her shoulder at the others. “You came home.”

*

By the time Charlotte’s servant had ushered them into a sitting room and re-appeared with a tea tray, Charlotte seemed to have collected herself. “I’m sorry,” she said to Audrey for the tenth time. “You’re just so….”

“Like this Mara person you mentioned?” Audrey asked. She narrowed her eyes slightly and examined Charlotte closely as she asked the question, but Charlotte just returned her gaze serenely. “Who is she?”

“Mara was my daughter.”

“You said ‘welcome home’,” Audrey said with heavy emphasis. “Is this _my_ home?”

Charlotte just laughed, a bright, surprised sound, and began to pour tea for everybody. “Oh goodness, no. This isn’t even the house where I raised Mara. Now, please, why don’t you all have a seat and tell me what brought you to my door?”

D’avin and Johnny busied themselves squabbling over biscuits and cake under Dutch’s exasperated gaze while Audrey began to relate, again, the story of how they thought they’d arrived in the Quad. Pawter and Nathan occasionally interjected, but Duke just settled himself comfortably back to watch Charlotte. The woman was the opposite of an open book, he quickly realised. Occasionally she inhaled sharply in shock or surprise, but otherwise she didn’t falter.

She did, however, pointedly meet Duke’s eyes and offer him fresh tea a few minutes in. But she made no move for the teapot as she spoke and didn’t seem surprised when he shook his head. But when Nathan mentioned the damage to the barn, her mask finally started to slip. “Did you say you saw holes in the structure?”

Duke gave an affirmative grunt. “Yup. Some of them big enough for two people to fall through,” he said flatly.

Charlotte’s eyes turned distant. “Then the Controller really didn’t-“

“Yeah, about that. What exactly is a Controller?” Audrey asked. “And if you could actually answer me this time, that’d be really great.”

Charlotte looked taken aback as Audrey’s patience finally broke. But it didn’t take her long to recover, which somehow didn’t really surprise Duke as he narrowed his eyes at her.

“The controller is part of what you call The Barn. He, well, controls it to make sure it fulfils its purpose and that it appeared and disappeared from Haven when it was meant to.”

“Wait, so-“

“Agent Howard,” Nathan said. Duke let his eyes flick briefly Nathan’s way just long enough to register the defiant tilt of his chin before he turned back to Charlotte.

“I… suppose so. If you knew Agent Howard as someone who was connected with the Barn like Audrey was, then yes. He probably was the Controller.”

“So he _was_ the reason why I kept being forced to go back inside. _He_ was doing this to me?” Audrey cried, and Charlotte shifted forward quickly so she could place a hand on Audrey’s knee.

“Oh, no, dove. No, it wasn’t like that.”

Audrey stared down at Charlotte’s hand for a long, tense moment. Then she looked back at Charlotte with a steely gaze. “Who is Mara?” she asked again. Pawter opened and then shut her mouth and the others all shifted uneasily around them, but Audrey held out a hand to still them and refused to look away from Charlotte. “Tell me who she is!”

The silence seemed to stretch uncomfortably long before Charlotte replied. “You are, Audrey. Even if you don’t remember it.”

“Right, so she’s Mara just like she was Lucy or Sarah?” Nathan asked.

But Charlotte shook her head. “If you’ve known Audrey by those names in the past, then no, not like that. Those are just more overlaid personalities. Mara is who she was in the beginning. The original, if you will.”

“So if Mara was your daughter and my original personality and the Controller wasn’t the one keeping me there, what the hell was? Why would you leave me there to go through that torture over and over again?”

“You bargained with the Nine, didn’t you,” Pawter said, startling the four of them. Dutch, Johnny, and D’avin had all been following the conversation with varying levels of interest, but Pawter had been as transfixed by Charlotte as Duke had been suspicious. “It’s why you gave up the Lahani Land to your cousin.”

A ghost of a smile flickered across Charlotte’s face as she inclined her head at Pawter. “It is, indeed.”

“But what I don’t understand is why you’d do that. Giving up Land is a very steep bargain to drive, what could you possibly have traded it for?”

The smile dropped away from Charlotte’s face as quickly as it had appeared, and took with it her general air of warmth and hospitality. In its place sat a sad, tired woman with a mournful expression. “To save my daughter’s life,” she said quietly, her eyes fixed again on Audrey’s face.

“To _save my life_? That’s insane,” Audrey said. She shook her head and shifted uneasily in her seat as she continued speaking. “Haven is most definitely not safe. Even with my immunity to the Troubles, do you have any idea how many times I’ve been in serious danger? I’ve lost count, and that’s just as Audrey. I don’t even know how many times Lucy or Sarah might have been in the same sorts of danger.”

“The Controller would never have let anything happen, sweetheart. If you were seriously hurt, the Barn had the capacity to heal and protect you. I made sure they included that in its matrix when I struck my bargain with them, I made sure you would be safe. It was the only way I could take care of you by then.”

“This still doesn’t make any sense. The daughter of a Nine would never have her life threatened. I mean, just my being exiled was a huge deal,” Pawter said quietly, mostly to herself. But Audrey heard her and pointed at her desperately and then spread her hands in question.

“Yeah, I don’t understand half of what she’s saying but what’s that about?” Duke asked before Audrey could work herself up more.

“Mara made some bad choices,” Charlotte said slowly.

“What sort of choices?” Audrey asked.

Charlotte sighed and tipped her head against the high back of her seat. “Mara brought aether to Qresh,” she finally replied. Her eyes flicked between Pawter and the Killjoys before they returned, as always, to Audrey.

“Woah,” Johnny said, leaning forward. D’avin looked confused and opened his mouth but Johnny quickly shushed him. “Don’t ask us to explain, D’av. It’s bad, just, royally screwed kind of bad.”

“That would definitely explain a few things,” Dutch said with a whistle.

Pawter just stared at Charlotte. “I’m amazed that even giving up the Lahani Land was enough,” she said faintly.

Charlotte smiled grimly. “I had more teeth than just my wealth,” she said, locking eyes with Pawter for a long moment until Pawter huffed a laugh.

“I’d believe that.”

Audrey turned to the others with a confused expression, and then raised her hands to rub at her temples. “And what is aether exactly?”

“Oh, right, so it’s this malleable power source-“

“Oh so you answer her but not me,” D’avin grumbled at Johnny.

“-kinda black and goopy looking. Very useful and very dangerous if it’s mishandled, so of course it ends up on the black market a lot and we get called in to help catch the thieves. Assuming Dutch ever lets me accept a warrant for it, of course.”

“Aether going boom on our watch isn’t my idea of a good time, Johnny,” Dutch said.

“Well, yeah, but the possible applications for it are amazing. Lucy could totally support a small containment chamber for working with it and-“

“We live on Lucy, Johnny. If the aether goes boom, then Lucy goes boom and we find ourselves homeless. Not to mention grounded. No, for the last time, we are never taking a warrant for aether retrieval.”

“Okay,” Nathan said. He glared at them both until Johnny cottoned on and shut up, then turned back to Charlotte. “So it’s like, what, bringing explosives home and hoping they don’t go off? Why would anyone do that?”

“Mara’s father - your father, Audrey - experimented with it before his death, and I suppose Mara wanted to follow in his footsteps. But like Dutch was saying, the fallout if something goes wrong can be unpredictable. Qreshi consider safeguarding the environment of Qresh as our most sacred duty. All aether experiments must be conducted off-world to ensure the integrity of the Land, and Mara threatened all of that when she brought it here.”

“The Land is all,” Pawter interjected with a wry glance at Dutch and Johnny.

“So I was a criminal?” Audrey asked faintly.

“You were my daughter,” Charlotte said sternly. “But yes, it’s true that you did break Qreshi law. All of the possible penalties for your actions were very severe. The barn wasn’t meant to torture you, Audrey. Far from it. It was meant to save you. To help you learn the magnitude of your mistakes, and when you had it was meant to restore Mara to you and bring you home.”

“So Haven was both your prison and your rehabilitation program. Cool,” Duke said with an eyeroll. “That sounds like a great idea. Absolutely nothing could go wrong with that.”

Audrey paid him little heed. “But now the barn is gone, so, what. Does that mean Mara’s memories are gone, too?”

“Even without the barn, I can still bring Mara back. I can restore all of your memories just as easily as the Controller could have done.”

“That would take advanced brain alteration technology. Not to mention be exceedingly difficult even if you had my medical training, which I assume you don’t. What will happen to Audrey as she is now, or what if it goes wrong?” Pawter asked, a sharp glint in her eye. Audrey blinked at Pawter and then frowned at Charlotte, who hesitated. “Any patient deserves to know what they should expect from a form of treatment,” Pawter insisted in a stern voice.

“I’m a scientist and I am perfectly well trained to handle that technology. But of course. Of course, you’re right,” Charlotte conceded. “Audrey’s memories - your memories - and personality would be absorbed back into Mara, as was intended all along. Along with the memories of all the personalities the Controller has given you in the past.”

“So, what, who I am now will just be lost? Like I lost being Lucy, or Sarah?” Audrey asked. She stared at Charlotte in disbelief for a moment, then stood abruptly. Her chair was knocked back on its legs by the suddenness of her movements, nearly falling until she grabbed it and shoved it properly out of her way so she could pace the room.

“Please, please dove,” Charlotte said. She began to rise from her seat with her hand outstretched, but Audrey was already out of reach. “It was the only way to save you. It still is. You’re not complete without all of you, all of your past and your memories. Including those from before you left Qresh. Let me fix that.”

“I… I need time to think,” Audrey said as she backed away with her hands raised as if to ward Charlotte off.

“I understand,” Charlotte said. “This new home I have might be small but it is comfortable. It might not be where I raised Mara but it’s still yours for whatever you need. There’s more than enough room for all of you to stay.”

“We don’t leave Audrey alone,” Nathan said to Duke under his breath.

“I would never hurt my daughter,” Charlotte said in an offended tone, having overheard them despite Nathan’s attempt to whisper.

Audrey furrowed her brow as she turned back to Charlotte. “But you’re the one who keeps saying I’m not Mara.”

“Well, yes, but-“

“So Audrey won’t be left alone for however long we’re here,” Duke said while Nathan nodded firmly beside him.

Charlotte sighed and sat back down. “Of course,” she said sadly. “You don’t know me now. I understand why I don’t have your trust. But if you won’t let me restore your memories, perhaps I can give you the next best thing. I have many records about Mara and her life here, things that I held on to when I couldn’t hold you. I’d be happy to share them with you. And perhaps your new friends here can even help you with anything you don’t understand, if you’d prefer not to ask me.”

“What do you keep your records on?” Duke asked. Nathan shot him a bemused look, and Duke huffed at him. “What? The technology here is kind of a little out of our league. How do we know if what she gives Audrey is even real?”

“I can help with that!” Johnny said with a voice muffled by a mouth full of crumbs. He swallowed audibly and brushed a hand across his mouth sheepishly as they all stared. “Sorry. But I’m good with computers, I can get Lucy to help me authenticate anything before you look at it. It might take a little while though, so it’d be quicker if we all went back to Lucy so we’re in the same place when she’s done.”

“Very well, I’ll send someone to show you back to your ship and bring you the documents,” Charlotte said and began to make her way to the door. She hesitated as she passed Audrey, but didn’t try to hug her again. “It was wonderful to see you again. More than you can imagine,” she said, and then she was gone before Audrey could reply.

Johnny was the first one to get to his feet and join them, apparently eager to return to his ship. “Right, so we can set up some bunks in one of the spare rooms-“

“I might stay here,” Pawter said. Everybody turned to look at her in surprise, and she shrugged and smiled. “What can I say, Lucy’s getting a little crowded these days. I’d also like a chance to look at this memory wiping tech. I read about something like it in med school, but nobody had managed to successfully utilise it for psychiatric treatment so the available information was very limited. Maybe I can find out something more useful about it while I’m here.”

“Are you sure?” Johnny asked with concern, but Pawter just gave his arm a reassuring squeeze and nodded.

“You’re the one always reminding I’m a Qreshi. I know how to handle her if I need to, I’ll be fine. Now go, sort out your bunks and I’ll have Charlotte let me bring you the data when it’s ready.”

*

Three days later, Dutch walked past Audrey. She was curled up on the floor of the cargo bay with Duke and a padd full of Charlotte’s information on Mara.

“You know, we do have seats and beds and all sorts of surfaces in this ship more suitable for lounging on,” Dutch pointed out as she paused to lean in the doorway with an amused look. “Probably more comfortable, too.”

Audrey looked up briefly to nod in acknowledgement before she quickly refocused her attention on the padd.

“She just jumps up and starts pacing,” Duke volunteered in response and Audrey hummed in agreement. He had his head rested back against the wall and his arms propped up on bent knees while he stared at the ceiling in evident boredom. “It’s a bit further to get up here,” he elaborated when Dutch just raised an unimpressed eyebrow in response.

“Why don’t we go walk through that fancy garden out there?” Dutch asked after considering them both for a moment. She walked over and offered Audrey a hand up.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go out-,” Duke started to say, but Dutch shut him down with a shushing finger held up in his general direction.

“I know a little something about discovering that somebody who looks suspiciously like you has a mysterious violent past. Come on, some fresh air will do you good,” she said with a roll of her eyes as she pointed at a few weapons strapped to her body when Duke continued to protest. “Relax, already. I’m armed. I can protect her from the big, scary Qreshi lady if I need to.”

“It’s alright, Duke,” Audrey said. She handed him the padd with a grim smile and then let Dutch pull her to her feet. “Dutch is right, I probably could use a break.”

With Lucy parked not far from Charlotte’s house, it didn’t take long to reach the nearest strip of manicured flowerbeds.

“It seems… I don’t know, odd. To look at all the beauty that’s here after reading everything on that padd.”

“Grim and seedy underbelly?” Dutch guessed as she surveyed the area around them.

“Yeah,” Audrey said. She rolled her shoulders and stretched out her neck with a crack and a relieved sigh as they walked, but kept her gaze directed downward at the lines of bright petals. “I thought I’d seen it all on the job. After staring at crime scene photos for a murder for weeks on end trying to find any clues you might have missed, most things pale in comparison. But seeing my own face on someone so angry, it’s- I don’t know what it is, but disturbing is top of the list.”

“So she has recordings of you, or Mara, or whatever?”

“Yeah, from being questioned about the aether incident. I’ve seen pictures before of myself in places I don’t know with names I don’t remember having. But Johnny showed me how to connect the video recordings with that holo-projector thing he said you can use to communicate with people in this place? That’s totally insane, by the way. But he hooked it up so I got to watch myself furiously angry with no apparent regard for life and the risk they say I put other people in, and the whole thing was life-sized and in full sound and colour.”

Dutch blew out a long breath in sympathy. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Audrey agreed with a bitter laugh. “I just wish-“

“Well, well, well. What have we-,” a voice interrupted from behind them. Audrey jumped and spun around mid-sentence as her hand went uselessly to her holster, which of course she wasn’t wearing. The woman behind them took in the movement with a smooth sweep of her widening eyes. “Mara Seyah, as I live and breathe. This is a surprise.”

Dutch shifted smoothly between Audrey and the stranger before she could muster a response. “Delle Seyah,” Dutch said with a small bow of her head. Then she cocked a hip and planted a fist on it before stared the other woman down. “Bellus should have told you I’m not available for warrants right now.”

“Oh, yes, I know, but when I realised you were on Qresh I thought I’d make my case in person,” Delle Seyah said as she shifted slightly to try and see around Dutch. “Although now I think I understand why you’re so busy. It’s a pleasure to see you again, Mara. You probably don’t recognise me, but you were in school with my Aunt. I must say, you’re looking… very well.”

Dutch huffed and tugged Delle Seyah aside with a hand on her elbow, causing her to look at Dutch with a mock affronted expression. “Come on, let’s discuss this warrant of yours,” she said as she tried to lead Delle Seyah away.

“Oh, but we were about to have such an interesting catch up,” Delle Seyah insisted, only reluctantly following Dutch while she stared intently back at Audrey. “But I suppose, if we must. I can always pop back for chat later, can’t I, Mara?” Finally, she conceded and they started to walk away faster. Just as they began to round a corner Dutch carefully jerked her head towards Lucy, where Audrey could see Nathan and Johnny lounging on the open ramp, and then towards Charlotte’s house.

Quickly, Audrey walked towards Nathan and Johnny. She broke into a jog as she got closer.

“Audrey? What’s wrong?” Nathan asked, sitting upright as she came into view.

“Dutch and I just ran into some woman I’ve never met. Dark hair, fancy clothes, uh, I think Dutch called her Delle something? She seemed to know me though, and she said she’d come back later to catch up. Whatever that means.”

“Oh no,” Johnny said in a gloomy tone. “Delle Seyah? We’re screwed. I think you’ve officially run out of time to figure this all out.”

“Where’s Duke? I think Dutch wanted us to go tell Charlotte,” Audrey said as she peered up into the ship behind them.

“Tell you what, you two go inside and find Pawter and Charlotte. Fill them in, and I’ll find Duke for you,” Johnny said as he scrambled to his feet. When they didn’t move, he gestured at them sharply. “Go! Quickly! Delle Seyah is one of the Nine, we really don’t have time to waste.”

“One of the-,” Nathan started to say in dawning understanding, but Audrey had already spun on the spot and started off in search of Charlotte. “I have a bad feeling about this,” he muttered as he caught up with her. Audrey just nodded in silent agreement, and flung open Charlotte’s front door without knocking.

“Charlotte? Pawter?” she called as she walked briskly from room to room. “Hello?”

“In here,” came a familiar voice, and then Pawter’s head popped around a corner. A muddy glove was waved at them, and then Charlotte quickly stepped around a waving Pawter and hurried over to them. She, too, was wearing gardening gloves that she shedded as she walked.

“Audrey, is everything okay?” she asked as she reached them.

“Delle Seyah is here, and I still don’t really understand why that’s a bad thing but she called me Mara. Dutch distracted her, and Johnny said this was bad and we should come and find you.”

All the colour drained from Charlotte’s face. “You have to leave,” she said urgently. “Immediately.”

“Hey, listen here. You can’t say Audrey’s your daughter and then throw her to the wolves as soon as it’s inconvenient,” Nathan cried.

“No, you don’t understand,” Charlotte snapped at him. Then she took Audrey by the shoulders with both hands and looked her in the eye. “I don’t care what might happen to me, but Delle Seyah has a lot of influence on Qresh. More influence than I do, these days, and if she recognised you then it’s only a matter of time before they’ll want to hold you accountable for Mara’s crimes. The possibility of sentencing you to death for Mara’s actions still exists.”

“But she’s not Mara,” Nathan protested, clenching his fists.

“They won’t care about that. Until the Controller confirms that Mara has completed the requirements of her punishment and had her personality restored by him, her sentence is incomplete.”

“So if I let you give me back Mara’s memories then I’d be restored, right?”

“No, dove,” Charlotte said, shaking her head. “Maybe if I had restored them earlier and we had voluntarily approached the Nine, there could have been an argument made to consider it as having fulfilled the same purpose. But like this…. To be caught in subterfuge by one of the Nine themselves? It’s highly unlikely that they’ll accept anything less than testimony from the Controller himself as evidence, and you said he was no more.”

“What have I done?” Nathan said quietly. He looked pale himself as he stepped away and leant against a wall for support.

“Audrey? Nathan?” Duke’s voice called from another room. “Audrey- There you are! This place is ridiculous, we’ve been looking for you for ages.”

Duke entered the room with Johnny on his heels, but Charlotte didn’t look up. Duke quickly took in the scene they made. His brow furrowed as his gaze landed on Nathan, and he stepped over to place a hand on Nathan’s shoulder.

“There’s another way,” Charlotte said. “I only asked to keep a small piece of the Lahani Land, this specific piece, because there’s a rare phenomena here. It’s called a thinny. It’s a sort of fragile place that allows for travel between worlds. In this case, between here and your Haven. You’ll need to cross through the Void to get back home, so the Nine won’t follow you there.”

“The what in the what now?” Duke asked, eyebrows raised high.

“I won’t lie to you, it could be dangerous for you and for Nathan. People from your world can’t survive as long in the Void as we can,” Charlotte answered him as she rummaged in a pocket. Then she fished out a gold ring which she held out to him. “But these rings will guide you and help you to open another thinny in the Void to lead you through to Haven. This is the last one I have and the Nine don’t possess the knowledge of how to make more. If they follow you, they’ll be trapped there and they won’t risk that. You’ll be safer there than Audrey will be here.”

“I can’t ask you to do this,” Audrey said as she turned stricken eyes on both Nathan and Duke. Duke swallowed hard. She looked lost, but there was an edge of a familiar resolve under it. The same look she’d had on her face as they’d watched her enter the Barn.

“Well I’m going with or without you. I don’t belong here, Audrey,” he said before that resolve could harden.

“Yeah, me too,” Nathan said. Slowly he pushed himself off the wall and stepped up beside Duke. “And it sounds like we’re more likely to make it all the way to Haven if you’re with us.”

“It’s not just about what the Nine might do to me,” Audrey said earnestly as she took them both by the hand. “I went into the Barn to end the Troubles. If I go back, they’ll just start all over again. I can’t live with that.”

Johnny coughed from behind them. “Whatever you guys are doing, you need to choose quick. I just saw Dutch through the window and it looked like she was heading for the front door. There’s no Delle Seyah with her at least, but I doubt that’ll last long.”

“Audrey,” Charlotte said softly. She tugged her back away from Nathan and Duke. “I’m sorry, dove, but I don’t think the Troubles left when you did.”

“No, they had to. They always do. That’s the whole reason that I’m here, that I went into the Barn in the first place.”

Charlotte shook her head and raised a hand to cup Audrey’s cheek. “From what you told me, the Barn and the Controller were both destroyed. That would have meant there was none of our technology left in Haven to suppress these Troubles you described.”

Duke swore and Nathan dragged a hand down his face. “Then we have to go back to help anyway,” Nathan said. “The sooner, the better.”

“We all need to leave Qresh immediately,” Dutch announced as she barrelled through the door with D’avin at her side. “I bargained with Delle Seyah to take her latest warrant in exchange for her silence, but I don’t think we can trust her to keep her mouth shut for long. So we need to get the three of you off-world and somewhere she can’t find you, and quickly.”

“You won’t need to do that. I can help them to get home.”

D’avin raised an eyebrow. “You can help them beam intergalactically?” he asked skeptically.

Charlotte blinked at him with a baffled look. “What?”

“Never mind,” Dutch said. She held up a hand when D’avin spluttered. “If you three are sorted, then the rest of us still need to get going to buy you time to do whatever you’re going to do. Johnny? Pawter?”

Dutch turned to leave again, but Pawter clearing her throat halted her in her tracks.

“Actually,” Pawter said with a one-shouldered shrug. “I was thinking about staying here for longer.”

Charlotte smiled at her, and reached back to take her by the hand briefly. “You are still very welcome.”

“I can help provide an alibi if Delle Seyah doesn’t keep her word, and Charlotte has some fascinating medical plants in the greenhouse here that I’d love a chance to examine more closely. I think some of them could be successfully grown on Westerley to help combat medical supply shortages,” she continued. Johnny started to make a protesting sound, but Pawter shook her head at him. “It’s okay. Really, I was thinking about trying to mend bridges with my family to convince them to help Old Town, anyway. Like you’ve been telling me to. It’ll be much easier to do that from here.”

“I might even be able to offer you a few pointers there,” Charlotte said. She stepped away from Pawter and dropped her hand as she spoke, and began to usher Audrey, Nathan, and Duke towards the back of the house. “We shouldn’t dally. The thinny is at the bottom of the garden. There’s a short walk to find it and I’ve deliberately allowed the area it’s in to become overgrown, so it won’t be quick or easy to reach.

“Thank you,” Audrey said. She halted briefly by the door out of the room and looked back at the others. “I don’t know what we would have done without your help back at Old Town.”

Dutch smirked and shrugged, and Johnny just grinned widely at them. “Don’t mention it,” D’avin said for them all, with a jaunty salute, and then Audrey stepped through the doorway and they disappeared from sight.

It took several long minutes to make their way down the slope to the bottom of the garden. The way was as overgrown with bushes as Charlotte had warned it would be. By the time she called a halt they were all red and breathless, and covered in scratches and bits of greenery.

“It’s here,” Charlotte said as she beckoned Audrey forward. She held a hand up in front of her and motioned for Audrey to copy her, and then began to feel across the empty space. “Do you feel it, how it has a faint texture? The ring on your finger should help you sense it more clearly.”

Audrey copied her movements for a minute. As she waved her hand around, a small crease formed between her eyebrows. “I don’t feel anything,” she finally admitted in frustration.

“Take a deep breath,” Charlotte said and slipped closer as she took Audrey’s hand in her own. “Now let it out and relax. Focus on what you can feel. Not what you see, or what think you should feel, but the actual movement of the air across your fingertips.”

She moved their hands together in the same movement again, groping through the air until Audrey stiffened. “Yes, yes I think. Is that it?” Audrey asked, but before she could get all of the words out, the air shimmered around them.

“Yes, Audrey. That’s the thinny. Now, with the ring, break it open like this,” she said and slashed at the air with their hands. Where their hands had moved downwards a line of mercurial light appeared, like a rip being made in fabric. “Now you can move through it. The opening will last a few minutes, but no longer than that without something to hold it open. But any place that you find that can make an opening like this, that place should always retain its nature as a thinny for as long as you have a ring with you to manipulate it.”

She stepped back from Audrey as she spoke, leaving her to stand alone with Nathan and Duke by the shimmering light of the open thinny.

“It’s good to see you have two people to love you and guard your back. That is at least some consolation for losing you again,” Charlotte said with a trembling smile as she turned and began the trek back towards the house.

“I’m sorry I’m not Mara,” Audrey said quickly as she darted away from the thinny and after Charlotte.

Charlotte made a soft sound. Immediately, she turned back around and flung her arms around Audrey. “I’m just glad I got to see you again,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Regardless of whether it was as Mara or Audrey. I only hope it won’t take so long for our next meeting.”

“How can we meet again if you’ve given us your last ring?” Audrey asked, her voice muffled slightly by Charlotte’s shoulder.

Drawing back, Charlotte cupped Audrey’s cheek with her hand one last time before stepping away again. “I can make myself another. I’ll just need to wait for the Nine to lose interest in me again first. You will also be able to use that ring to return here, if you wish, now that I’ve shown you how to use it.”

The sound of voices started to drift down the hill, interrupting them.

“There’s no more time,” Duke said. He tugging at Audrey’s arm until she reluctantly followed him. Nathan reached for her as well as they both approached the thinny together.

“Goodbye, dove,” came the quiet farewell behind them as they each reached forward with their rings in or on their hands. But when Audrey looked back over her shoulder Charlotte was already gone. Then the air bent around them, and Qresh shimmered out of sight.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Artwork for Small Fandom Bang - Killjoys (TV)/Haven (TV)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14201802) by [danceswithgary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithgary/pseuds/danceswithgary)




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